22lr inheritance - need evaluation

[yankytrash]

Well boys and girls, I've seem to have fallen bass-ackwards into a little 22lr inheritance. There's about 15,000 rounds here, all brand new in the box, of many different makes.

Most of the ammo was purchased in the early/mid-80's.

Before you ask, yes I'm keeping it.

I'll be shooting the majority of these through a Charles Daley bolt action field grade 23" barrel and a Ruger 22/45 5" bull barrel for minor plinking, but mostly small game hunting.

I'd like any of your opinions on any of this ammo through either gun for hunting purposes. Mostly I'm concerned with accuracy potentials.

Here's the list:

1. CCI Mini Mag
2. CCI Mini Group
3. CCI Stinger HP
4. Squires Bingham
5. CCI Blazer
6. Winchester Super-X High-Velocity
7. Remington Thunderbolt
   [/list=1]
   
   Thanks.

 

[Preacherman]

I'm afraid you're out of luck. None of that stuff is any good for your purposes. Send it down to me and I'll dispose of it for you in a safe, hygienic, environmentally-friendly way...

 

[Greg L]

Ya know,

If you've got 15k rounds I think that you can afford to go through a box or two to decide which groups best with your stuff. Even if you "waste" 1k in testing you will still have 14k to go chase the little critters with.

Besides, isn't 20k a basic load for most people

Greg

 

[firestar]

Don't count on the CCI Stingers being super accurate. In my experience, they tend to be the least accurate .22lr, that still means they are accurate, just not up to the accuracy of most other standard velocity .22s.

 

[Mike Irwin]

Flush the Remington T-bolt down the toilet, and shoot everything else.

 

[Jim March]

Stingers are the cat's pajamas for close-range defensive use out of 22LR handguns. They're tuned for ONE thing: velocity .

They'll generally pull 1,000fps even out of 3" barrels . And when they expand, they turn into these neat little disks of about 9mm diameter without coming apart. If CCI could get something in a serious caliber to perform like these little jewels, they'd *dominate* the biz but alas, the technique doesn't scale up well .

Accuracy in a rifle will be mediocre, but still OK at 25 yards or so - if all you have available for home defense is a 22LR rifle of some sort, these are superb and in something like a Ruger 10/22, will actually be as effective as your average 38Spl+P fodder from a handgun.

Upshot: shoot enough of 'em to know where they group, but otherwise keep a stash of these PLUS a bunch of whatever other ammo turns out to be the most accurate. The latter is your small-game hunting load, the Stingers are for defense or hunting stuff up to about Coyote size. Those two 22LR types are really the only two kinds anybody ever needs in that caliber.

(Of the few other contenders for the title of "best 22LR defense ammo", the Remington Yellowjackets also have possibilities, 'cept they sometimes won't feed in semiautos (of any size). Hence the Stingers are generally considered the best...)

 

[Apple a Day]

Nigel, you must have been a saint in a previous life.
Speaking of .22s, how is the grip on that odd Ruger holding up?

 

[LiquidTension]

I really like the Mini Mags. Thunderbolts don't feed in my MkII, but Mini Mags work perfectly every time. I think the batch of Thunderbolts I had was loaded a bit too long or something. I avoid Blazers just on principle. YMMV

 

[Detritus]

I'm with milke....

T-bolts are the ONLY round that BOTH my 10/22 AND My Marlin 39 hate!! over the past 10 years i've tried shooting thunderbolts aprox 5 times, (5 different lots etc, etc, problem was i'd have a "oh these are cheap this week, now WHY did i not like them again? let's try ONE MORE TIME" moment) They won't feed consistently, shoot patterns instead of groups, and the factor that has caused me to throw away 3-400 rounds out of the usually 500+ round bricks i'd get, was the noticable difference round to round in recoil and "muzzle blast" (ie some would sound/push like a .22 mag, and some would, if not for the new hole in the target, cause me to beleive the gun misfired, and i'd stop and check the bore)

flush em, not all lots may be like what i;ve seen, but i won't ever put em through anything i own again! i even keep a note in my "range pack" (an old ALICE pack with all my "every trip" gear in it) on the subject now

 

[ACP230]

I'd test the Thunderbolts in YOUR guns before throwing them out.

I used to shoot NRA Convenitional Pistol matches indoor and outdoor with Thunderbolts in my Ruger Mark II. There were fewer misifires with them than other competitors had with Remington Standard Velocity ammo. Accuracy was good at 50 feet, 25 yards and 50 yards. There was an indoor classification at the club I belonged to. I got to 9th bar, just below expert shooting them.

I have also used them in a Smith M18 and several .22 rifles including a couple of 10/22s. They were not the most accurate load in the rifles but they fed well and fired. The M18 had some problems igniting some other brands but did OK with Thunderbolts. (I eventually had a spring changed.)

Your mileage may vary, as they say, but don't discount Thunderbolts without trying them.